


Is There Life After Love?

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [23]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anya Is A Lot Mean, As Slow As You Can Get In Less Than Two Thousand Words Anyway, F/M, Infidelity, M/M, Soulmate AU, Viktor Is A Bit Mean, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 07:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10826241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Georgi's soulmate was fifteen when Georgi dreamed of him.  He didn't mind a bit if Georgi continued to date Anya while waiting for him to grow up.  Then Anya's soulmate turned out to be young, too.  Then neither of their soulmates came for them for years, so Georgi and Anya stayed together.Several times, Georgi had prepared himself for things to end.  Several times, it didn't happen.  So when it did, he was completely blindsided.





	Is There Life After Love?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Rarepair Roulette, and also for Georgi Popovich Week Day 5: Dream.

It sucked, being in Viktor’s shadow. Even when it came to birthdays, Georgi couldn’t escape Viktor. His birthday was one day later, same year, and while normally he didn’t mind, this year it sucked. Of course Viktor had to have a big flashy drama around his soulmate. With everyone focused on Viktor’s Japanese boy, Mila had been the only one at the rink to even bother asking Georgi about his. And even that was “Your soulmate’s not Japanese too, right?”

His soulmate was not, in fact, Japanese. He was foreign, he was younger – fifteen instead of fourteen – and he was also a skater. And a boy. And this was not what he’d expected.

Unlike with Viktor and his boy, Georgi’s boy was almost sixteen. They’d agreed not to try to meet until he was eighteen, though, and Georgi didn’t have to stop dating the girl he was seeing. Viktor would be furious with him – if he even noticed.

Anya was worth it, though. Georgi loved her. So much. What did the universe know anyway? There were so many cases of soulmates who couldn’t get along, or were incompatible, or just didn’t work for some reason.

Anya agreed to stay together, quite happily, when she heard that Georgi’s soulmate didn’t mind. For over a year, everything was perfect. Georgi had Anya, and his soulmate had gone through a couple boyfriends. When Anya’s birthday was coming up, Georgi got a little nervous, but Anya loved him. She might well choose him over her soulmate anyway.

On Anya’s birthday, texts went unanswered, calls went to voicemail, Anya wasn’t on social media at all, and Georgi got very worried. It’s not like he expected her to stay if she wanted to go to her soulmate, but he’d expected at least to hear from her.

She called the next day. Her soulmate, it turns out, was sixteen, and didn’t mind letting Anya stay with Georgi until he was eighteen – or Georgi’s soulmate came of age.

When Georgi’s soulmate came of age, he expected a call, or a text, or a message through Viktor, or something. There was nothing. A month later, nothing. Georgi even sought him out at Worlds, and he never said a word about being soulmates. Flirted a lot, yes, but from what Georgi could tell, he was like that with everyone. Georgi could only assume that in the dream, they’d agreed not to try to find each other.

Viktor was kind of a jerk to Georgi over the next year. When Anya’s soulmate came of age, and she didn’t leave to go to him, Viktor rolled his eyes and snarked about how Georgi and Anya deserved each other and fate was cruel to have messed up so badly. Georgi kept tabs on his soulmate, but he seemed perfectly happy to keep flirting with everyone and dating casually. For years, this arrangement worked – Georgi and Anya together, Georgi’s soulmate free to flirt, and Anya’s soulmate doing… whatever he was doing.

 

It all came crashing down in Boston at Worlds. After his short program, where he’d done reasonably well – he wouldn’t medal, but he hadn’t expected to – he got changed and went to find Anya. He found her. Hiding in a corner with her clothes half off with some other guy in a similar state. Anya met his eyes and didn’t even have the grace to look embarrassed or apologetic.

Georgi left. He had no idea where he was headed. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, either. When he bumped into someone, he looked up. Christophe took one look at him and took his hand to lead him to another secluded corner, where he made Georgi sit on the floor leaning on Chris’s shoulder. “It happened?”

“She cheated. I don’t even know if it’s her soulmate, but she could have at least told me.”

“After all this time? I wonder why now?”

Georgi shook his head. “I don’t know. She never really told me anything about him. Maybe he was dating someone else, and that ended?”

“That would be a rather amusingly long chain of breakups.”

“I know. It’s just easier to think that than to wonder if she’s been cheating on me this whole time.”

Chris kissed the top of Georgi’s head. “I’m so sorry.”

“Do you… are you seeing anyone at the moment?”

“No. Good timing, I suppose… things with Stefan fell apart a few days ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He'd never minded watching Christophe date someone else, and Georgi didn't see any reason to change that just because he'd lost Anya. For all he knew, Christophe hadn't come to talk to him because he didn't want to be tied down.

Chris shrugged. “It was going to happen eventually. I know you truly loved Anya, but all of mine have been good times that were never meant to last. Killing time waiting for a younger soulmate, revenge on someone for cheating, rebound after someone’s lost their soulmate or their love. There were a couple times where Viktor nearly killed me.”

“Viktor and I used to be pretty good friends, but since you turned eighteen, he’s been distant. I think he hates me now, just deals with me because we’re rinkmates.”

“Well he can get over it. I never minded.”

“Thank you for being here for me. This was never fair to you.”

“Yes it was. I’ve been having a lot of fun. Once you’ve had time to process and work through this, if I don’t get to be first in line, _then_ you’re not being fair.”

“Why not now?”

“Because I’ve been a rebound and a revenge fuck. Neither of those ever lasts more than a few weeks. Which was perfect with them, but not with you. If you want one, I can point you at a couple good candidates. Do you know Emily Landon?”

“The British ladies’ skater?”

“Yeah. Her soulmate is… fifteen now? Can’t speak personally to whether she’s any good in bed, but she’s a sweet girl and everyone I’ve talked to says she’s great. I know she’s not dating anyone, as of when I talked to her last night at the bar.”

“Is there a reason you’re recommending her over someone you can talk about from personal experience?” Not that Georgi intended to do anything anyway, but he was curious.

Chris shrugged. “I’ve only ever been with guys.”

Georgi sat up, staring at Chris to try to figure out if he was serious. “Christophe, you’re my soulmate. Last I checked, you’re a guy.”

“Something you were definitely not comfortable with seven years ago. Has that changed?”

Huh. Now that Chris mentioned it… “Yes, it has. Well, sort of. I mean… you… but I don’t know about…”

“See? That’s why.”

“It’s appreciated, but… I don’t think it will help me. I just need to work through this on my own.”

“Fair enough. I’m here if you need a friendly shoulder or ear.”

 

Working through it meant pouring everything he was feeling into his program for the next season. Georgi ignored Viktor’s taunting – Viktor was very upset about missing another season, and while channeling his desire to skate into coaching Yuuri for the season was helping, it was clear that he wanted to be on the ice himself.

At the Cup of China, skating against Yuuri, Chris, and some kids, Georgi’s short program went very well. Afterwards, he and Chris met up to talk over drinks. Chris had a warning for him. “I don’t know what she’s doing, but Anya’s here. I know she’s not here to compete, but she was in the stands. With someone.”

Georgi flinched. Running into Anya again was not something he was ready for. “Thanks.”

Even warned, it was hard to concentrate on his skating when he saw Anya and her new boyfriend – the same guy she’d been with at Worlds, so maybe it was her soulmate, at least. When she held out a thumbs’-down and walked out, Georgi could barely finish his program. In another life, maybe, he’d be devastated. In this one… he was furious. She had no reason to be here. The only thing Georgi could figure was that she had come specifically to hurt him.

He dropped out of the medals. At least he didn’t drop as badly as the American kid had. He could still recover and make the finals if he did well in the NHK the next week. Chris, who had also had a disappointing third-place finish, skipped out on the interviews to take Georgi out to a bar and get completely smashed together.

Georgi had a moment of panic when he woke up in Chris’s bed. He calmed down quickly – Chris had a reputation as a bed-hopping flirt, but he also had the reputation of an honorable guy. When Chris woke up, he confirmed that. “I brought you back here because I was scared to leave you unsupervised. You were talking about doing all manner of horrible things to Anya for what she did to you yesterday.”

“We were together for ten years. How did I not see what a spiteful bitch she is?”

“I don’t know. Although I was keeping an eye on you two, as was Viktor, and neither of us saw it either, so don’t blame yourself. She hid it well.”

“I should go, let you get ready for practice. Congratulations on bronze, even if it wasn’t what you wanted.”

“We can both still make it! Just need to do well in our next competitions.”

 

Georgi got third in France, while Chris took gold. That made Chris the second person to qualify for the Finals, behind some Kazakhstani kid Georgi had never heard of. Georgi would have to wait for the Rostelecom Cup, where there were at least four skaters in contention, all of whom had better than a 4th place finish already. It was not a surprise when three of the four qualified over him, and Phichit Chulanont took the remaining spot.

He still went to Barcelona. Chris had contacted him immediately afterward to offer his consolations, and asked if he’d come cheer for him. Yuri, Mila, and Yuuri had also all qualified, so Georgi figured why not?

Hanging around with Chris in Barcelona was easy, and it was fun. Viktor even started being friendly with him again. Chris just shook his head. “He’s my best friend, but he is ridiculous.”

“He’s just looking out for you. He won the soulmate lottery, so he thinks everyone else should do things the way he did.”

“I know. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. You haven’t done me wrong yet.”

“I don’t mean to. But, speaking of doing you wrong… I’m ready to move on. Give this soulmate thing a real try. Are you in?”

“I’m in.”


End file.
